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Steven Smith has been ruled out of the third Ashes Test on the morning of the match in extraordinary circumstances with Usman Khawaja earning a recall just a day after it seemed unlikely that he would play another Test for Australia.Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed just before the start of play that Smith was suffering vertigo type symptoms, something he has battled with in the past. He left the ground during the warm-up after he had batted in the nets and had a conversation with coach and selector Andrew McDonald.Related

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Smith missed training on Monday due to illness but had trained on Sunday at Adelaide and then played golf with his team-mates at Kooyonga on Sunday afternoon.He returned to training on Tuesday and was first in the nets. But he did not look in full health during the net session and was also hit in the groin at one point which felled him and caused him to take a lengthy break.”Over the past few days he has been feeling unwell, with symptoms including nausea and dizziness,” a CA spokesperson said.”He was assessed and monitored closely and was close to being available to play. However, given the persistence of symptoms, a decision was made not to proceed.Steven Smith came down will illness ahead of the Test•Getty Images

“He is being treated for a potential vestibular issue. This is something Steve has experienced intermittently in the past and is being managed accordingly. He is expected to be available for the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.”Pat Cummins, who returned as captain after Smith had led the first two Tests, confirmed after winning the toss that Khawaja would replace him.”Steve’s been feeling a bit unwell the last couple of days,” Cummins said. “He came and gave it a crack this morning but didn’t think he was going to get up for this one. So he’s headed off home. But pretty lucky we’ve got someone like Usman who can step right in. Usman will bat No. 4″Khawaja has been recalled after Australia had elected to leave him out despite returning to full fitness from a back injury, with the success of the Travis Head-Jake Weatherald opening partnership in the first two Tests forcing the selectors’ hand. Even with Khawaja’s last-minute return, the selectors have decided to keep Head and Weatherald at the top. Khawaja will slot in at No. 4 with the rest of the order remaining the same.Khawaja has only twice batted at No. 4 in Test cricket, including in the first innings of the first Test in Perth when he was unable to open due to back spasms. It has been his preferred spot to bat in first-class cricket, averaging 53.15 with 10 centuries. He batted at No .4 in Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland for several years while he was Australia’s Test opener.Khawaja will turn 39 on Thursday, and become the first 39-year-old to play for Australia in 40 years.Smith has missed two of Australia’s last six Tests through injury or illness. He missed Australia’s first Test of the West Indies tour in June due to a finger injury he suffered in the WTC final. Josh Inglis batted at No. 4 on that occasion.Prior to that he had not missed a Test since the third Test of the 2019 Ashes series when he was ruled out with concussion. He has suffered several bouts of vertigo in the intervening years but none that have kept him out of a Test match.

Peter Moores, England’s coach, has backed Monty Panesar over Graeme Swann for a place in the Tests against Sri Lanka.”Certainly he is our No. 1 Test match spinner. You would expect him to do well over here,” Moores said. “Monty has proved he is an outstanding Test match bowler, and has been over the last couple of years.”Moores quashed speculation that Swann, the offspinner who was preferred to Panesar in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, might play ahead of Panesar as he is a better batsman and fielder.”Nothing against Graeme, because he has done well in the one-day games, but he still has stuff to do,” Moores said. “He has a great opportunity because he showed in one-day cricket what an aggressive spinner he can be and at times we might play two.”Monty has taken his wickets at 30 [runs] apiece, which is very good. He will be looking at this trip as a chance to keep that progression going. The one thing you can say about Monty is that he has grown a lot as a bowler in the last few Test matches.”Panesar, for his part, is not taking his place for granted and says he is ready for the challenge to his position as first-choice spinner.” I’m used to being in these positions where I don’t know if I’m going to play or not,” he told the Daily Mirror, “but I’ll just keep giving myself the best chance. I remember when I was out for two years, not playing first-class cricket. I could easily have given up … but you just keep persevering, keep staying patient, and you gradually think your chance will come if you keep doing that. That’s the way I try and do things.”England play two three-day warm-up games in Colombo before the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

Robin Morris stroked his way to his second unbeaten half century ofthe season for Mumbai in the Ranji One-Day West Zone League againstGujarat at the GSFC ground, Baroda. Robin (67 not out) hit twoboundaries and five massive sixes in his unbeaten innings leadingMumbai to a 9 wicket victory. Mumbai openers Robin and Wasim Jaffer(61) put on a 118 run partnership for the first wicket. Mumbai lookedset for their second consecutive 10 wicket victory before Wasimcharged Tejas Varsani and was caught short of his ground by stumperPallav Vora. Mumbai raced away to 150 for one in the 24th over toregister their third win and earned two points.Earlier in the day, Gujurat batting first, succumbed to the Mumbaiattack of Paras Mhambrey (3/17) and Sairaj Bahutule (3/34) and crawledtheir way to 149 all out in 48 overs. Bhavin Mehta (28) was the topscorer.

The second ODI between Hong Kong and Scotland at Mission Road was abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain across the city. The match had been pushed into a reserve day but that mattered little as wet weather continued from Thursday into Friday and with no chance of the field drying out, play was called off before the scheduled start time on Friday’s reserve day.The result meant each team got a point from the abandonment, which pushed Hong Kong above Netherlands into first place, though Netherlands has a chance to leapfrog Hong Kong when they play UAE on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Scotland is now in third place with seven points, one ahead of Kenya on the table.This was the third time in six scheduled WCL Championship matches during the current competition that Scotland has had to split points due to poor weather following a no result and a total abandonment in the Netherlands last September. Scotland also came close to missing out on maximum points in their opening two encounters at home in July against Nepal but managed to come away with two wins despite wet weather in Ayr.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan may have formed a solid opening combination at the top of India’s batting order, but Rohit feels that comparisons with the prolific Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly duo are premature.Rohit and Dhawan have put up 2763 runs from 63 innings across formats at an average of 44.56, with eight centuries and 10 fifties between them. While that is still a fair bit away from the 6609 runs Tendulkar and Ganguly put up together, Rohit has “immense satisfaction” that people are already drawing comparisons between the two pairs.”Comparisons with India’s most successful opening pairing [Ganguly-Tendulkar] gives you immense satisfaction. Comparisons are a piece of joy,” Rohit told . “It would be great if me and Shikhar as an opening pair can achieve the success that these two accomplished in their illustrious careers.”We are still not there but both of us would like to entertain the fans and win as many matches as they have won for India.”Rohit, who was named Player of the Series in the recent ODIs against Australia for his 441 runs from five matches, also felt that even his personal best was yet to come.”This is not the best. Whatever I achieve, I would always tell myself that my best is yet to come. I have scored 441 runs in the ODI series in Australia. In the next big series, my target will be to score more than 441 runs. If I am satisfied with my past achievements, I will never be able to set higher benchmarks.”It is a fact that you need to get the basics right. The straight six over fast bowlers’ head is a shot which I play with my batswing being the extension of my arm. It is about timing and position of the body negligible power element in it. But when MS Dhoni bats in the 45th over with the ball going soft, you need those wrists and brute power to clear ropes. That’s why MS is special.”Despite Rohit’s heroics in the ODI series, India went on to lose 4-1, though the visitors sealed a historic 3-0 whitewash in the T20Is that followed. However, Rohit said that the T20 win could not be put on the same pedestal as India’s victory in the 2007-08 tri-series, owing to the quality of Australia’s bowling attack back then.”I agree that their bowling attack is not same as it used to be but does one expect that Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath would have played on forever? You can only score runs off the bowlers that you play against,” Rohit said. “Every win counts as that’s what you are supposed to do while playing for the country.”[2008] was so different. I was a 20-year-old on my second or third tour. The new captain [Dhoni] was just settling down. Imagine their bowling attack. Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and a far younger Mitchell Johnson. The batting line- up was Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting and Clarke. So that tournament win can’t be compared to this win but this is also special in its own way.”

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Barrington Rowland produced a massive 283 and led Karnataka to a mammoth 619 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Rowland, unbeaten on 169 overnight, added 229 with his captain, Sujit Somasundar. Rowland, named after the former England batsmen Ken, smashed 29 fours and a six. Somasundar celebrated his elevation to the captaincy with a composed hundred as Karnataka were all but ensured of first-innings points. Madhya Pradesh replied with 120 for 1.
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Andhra Pradesh were reeling at 59 for 5 at the end of the second day at the Wankhede Stadium after Mumbai declared after making an imposing 515 for 9. Ajit Agarkar followed up his lively 52 with two early wickets, including the important one of Venugopal Rao. Earlier, Nishit Shetty and Vinayak Samant had also helped themselves to half-centuries and taken Mumbai past 500.
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Akash Christian and Niraj Patel shared a vital 154-run stand as Gujarat took the upper hand at Siliguri. Bengal added just 28 to their overnight total as Kirat Dhamani, the offspinner, polished off the tail to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 9 from his eight overs. Gujarat then put in a solid batting performance and trialed by just 29 at the end of the second day.
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Delhi fought back at the Jamia Millia Ground as their bowlers reduced Railways to 147 for 5 at the end of the second day’s play. Amit Pagnis made a steady 49 but Railways lost wickets at regular intervals. Delhi had earlier been bowled out for 216 with Ajay Jadeja playing the lone hand with a defiant 87.
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Gagandeep Singh, a medium-pacer, rocked the Baroda innings as Punjab hit back on the second day at Mohali. Gagandeep snapped up 5 for 57 while Vineet Sharma, his opening partner, finished with a four-wicket haul. Despite being bundled out for just 175 yesterday, Punjab managed a 20-run lead, a crucial figure in what may turn out to be a low-scoring battle.
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Maharashtra were shot out for just 83 and were in a deep hole at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. Having restricted Hyderabad to 231, the powerful Maharashtra batting line-up crumbled in just 32 overs with Narender Pal Singh and Mohammad Ghouse snaring seven wickets between them. Hyderabad extended their lead to 316 before stumps and hold all the aces going into the third day.
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Rudra Prathap Singh’s ten-wicket haul in the match put Uttar Pradesh on the brink of a win against Assam at Kanpur. In a low-scoring tussle, Assam gained a vital 52-run lead in their first innings and had their noses ahead halfway through the day. But they capitulated for just 107 the second time around and left UP a target of 160.

Adam Gilchrist has indicated he might be interested in joining the Indian Cricket League when he eventually retires from international cricket. Gilchrist is still planning to play for Australia “for a while yet”, but this week he was forthright in his support for the ICL concept.”It’s quite a good thing for guys like me who are at the back end of their careers,” he said at the Captains’ Breakfast on the eve of the ICC World Twenty20. “I’m ten years older than guys like Graeme [Smith], and about eight years older than Daniel [Vettori], so it’s a great opportunity.”He also felt there was nothing wrong with giving players more options outside the traditional ICC-sanctioned events. “I think the ICC does have a monopoly on the game, and it’s nice for the players to have more opportunities and to have more control of their futures,” he told the South Africa-based .Brian Lara, who has already signed up for the ICL, echoed Gilchrist’s views on the league. “I think there’s room for a lot of players in the market and I’ll be there to support them,” he said at the ICC Awards function in Johannesburg. “The most important thing is that their [ICL] motives are very clean and clear – they want to improve cricket and the standards of professional cricket in India, and that’s good enough for me.”

The Indian Premier League’s Mumbai-based franchise has been named their team ‘Mumbai Indians’. Sachin Tendulkar, the team’s icon player, will captain the side, which also includes Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock.”Mumbai Indians is a nice combination of senior players and youngsters, so I think we all will be looking forward to go out there, put up a perfect unit and perform well,” Tendulkar said after unveiling the team’s logo at a promotional event in Mumbai. “Twenty20 cricket is hugely popular everywhere and I have no doubt the IPL will be a hit.”Tendulkar said he was looking forward to open the batting with Jayasuriya: the last time he did so was back in 1998, while playing for the Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord’s in a charity match held in memory of Princess Diana.The team logo for the Mumbai Indians has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour – blue – is the same as that of the Indian national side.The franchise, owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, was bought for US$ 111.9 million, making it the most expensive of the eight franchises. The team has three Sri Lankans in Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando, while Pollock and Loots Bosman are the other overseas recruits. Robin Uthappa and Harbhajan Singh are the other India nationals in the side, which has promising local players in Abhishek Nayar and Ajinkya Rahane.

ScorecardAn unbroken 73-run stand between Jimmy Maher and Stuart Binny saw the Hyderabad Heroes clinch an unlikely win at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium.Strikes from Sujay Tarafdar and Nantie Hayward had reduced the Heroes, chasing 166, to 28 for 3, before a 54-run stand between Justin Kemp and opener Jimmy Maher. Tarafdar’s wicket of Kemp triggered another collapse and at 95 for 6, the Heroes were staring down the barrel.However, then came the whirlwind 73-run stand off just 6.1 overs, with which the Heroes sealed the game with four balls and four wickets to spare. Stuart Binny, the son of former India allrounder Roger Binny, was the chief architect of the chase, smashing 44 off just 19 at No. 8. Maher stayed right till the end; his 59-ball 65 anchored the innings, but even his Man-of-the-Match effort would have been in vain had it not been for Binny’s heroic knock.In all, Binny hit five four and two sixes, and finished his innings with a strike-rate of 231.57. Both Andre Adams and Lance Klusener went at more than ten an over.At the toss, the Heroes’ Chris Harris choose to field, and the move didn’t seeming to be working when Klusener blazed away. He biffed his way to 73 off 42 balls, with seven fours and five sixes. Twenty-one runs were taken of a Syed Sahabuddin over.Harris struck twice for the Heroes, also removing Klusener during his 3-0-16-2. Once Klusener fell in the 15th over, the Tigers were unable to keep up the momentum and they scored 165 for 5, at least 10-15 runs short of they would have expected in the first place, and what perhaps was the key difference in the final equation.

While one senior player returned to the national squad, another made an exit when India’s squad for the women’s Asia Cup was announced today. Neetu David, who had retired from international cricket in 2006, was included in the 15-member squad after she decided to reverse her decision one and half months back. Meanwhile Anjum Chopra, who won India’s highest sporting achievement award last year, was dropped in favour of younger players.”I had retired for personal reasons,” David told Cricinfo. “But many people told me that I should return to play, that I was needed by the team. I thought as well that I still had enough cricket left in me, so I am back.”David’s inclusion means Priti Dimri, the left-arm spinner who David had stepped aside for two years ago, has been left out. But young legspinner Thirush Kamini has been retained in the squad while offspinner Nooshin Al Khadeer has been replaced by debutant Seema Pujare.Other newcomers include Under-21s Priyanka Roy, Snehal Pradhan, Gouher Sultana and Anagha Deshpande. Asha Rawat returns to the side after last playing in England in 2006.The Asia Cup includes four teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh – this year and will be hosted by Sri Lanka.India squad:
Mithali Raj (capt), Jhulan Goswami, Jaya Sharma, Karuna Jain (wk), Amita Sharma, Devika Palshikar, Rumeli Dhar, Thirush Kamini, Neetu David, Seema Pujare, Snehal Pradhan, Gouher Sultana, Anagha Deshpande, Asha Rawat, Priyanka Roy.